Broken Hopes
by eternal-eloquence
Summary: Axel, Olivia and Jesse have been best friends since day one. But when a three-headed monstrosity is unleashed, and its defeat results in the loss of a certain someone's life, how do they cope? / (Rated T because I'm paranoid)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: There really aren't many oneshots centered around Axel or Olivia, and they're supposed to be members of the core five. Apparently, they don't even get enough recognition from the game creators themselves. So I decided to make a twoshot based around these two.**

 **This really isn't my best work, but I'm posting it anyway.**

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A loud _bang!_ surfaced through the frail, crumbling walls of the treehouse.

He pressed his large fists against the side of the wall, breathing heavily as he let another pang of anger escape him. His body shook slightly from the silent sobs that were leaving him, burying his shaggy mess of dark hair by nuzzling his head into his sleeves. His knees buckled beneath him, sending his defeated form to the ground, his face still hidden by his hands.

It hurt so much.

With his eyes still slightly red and his body still trembling, Axel rose to his feet and gazed around at his treehouse. At his home.

At their home.

Axel, Olivia, and Jesse's home. Theirs. They'd built it and designed it themselves, and it had remained untouched since the moment they stepped out. The armour stands, the bookshelves, the oak walls that were plastered with pictures of the Order of the Stone...it was exactly the same.

But to Axel...it wasn't the same. In fact, it was as far from the same as it was possible to get.

Because ever since they stepped out of that treehouse, everything had changed.

If it wasn't due to the fact that he'd just gone through a hell of a long time running for his life and screaming a ton in the process, landing on Lukas every now and then was something that most considered amusing (not including Lukas, of course). But what wasn't amusing was what he was running from.

The Witherstorm. That three-headed monstrosity was clearly unlike anything the world had ever seen. But being some of the only survivors out there, he, Lukas, Petra, Olivia and...Jesse had set out to destroy it.

And they destroyed it all right. The toxic, murky purple that the sky displayed had turned a bright blue that Axel had longed to see for the entirety of the three weeks he'd been away from his home. The grass was back to normal, the animals returning to their appropriate habitats...other than the fact that towns were still in need of a redesign, it was almost normal. The Witherstorm was dead. It was gone.

But so was Jesse.

In the midst of all the chaos, the only person who was brave enough to go into that Witherstorm was Jesse. Even with all its freaky heads, its slimy tentacles, and its earth-quaking roars, she was determined to end it, once and for all.

So in she went.

And out...well, to everyone's absolute horror, she hadn't come back out as herself. She hadn't come back out at all. The only evidence of the girl who'd given her life for the benefit of all was her body, bloody and crippled on the ground.

No one knew what had happened in the Witherstorm, and no one ever would. Seeing the state that Jesse was in at the time, she was certainly in no position to tell them. She'd barely managed to say her final goodbyes before her blood was drained out onto the grass, taking her life with it.

He still heard what she'd said to him moments before they all watched her life spill out in front of her. It repeated in his head, tearing down his walls of sanity and making him cry out in dolor once more. A few tears rolled down his cheeks in a painful, steady stream.

They were crowned the New Order of the Stone, saviors of everyone and defeaters of the Witherstorm. Without her.

It was all a lie.

If only he'd done something different. If only he'd gone with her into the storm. If only he hadn't stolen Ivor's fancy potion. If only he'd been nicer to Lukas. If only he'd helped Petra and Jesse find Ivor back in Endercon. If only he wasn't so useless.

If only a lot of things.

Axel gripped a few tufts of black hair and pulled on them viciously, this time screaming out in anguish and banging on the walls in his grief. It made no difference. He pounded his fists against the wall until his knuckles began to bleed. He brought his bloody hands to either side of his head and slid down the wall into a sitting position.

Well, he couldn't only blame himself. That's not what Jesse would've wanted. He had to partially share the blame with Ivor.

"Ivor." Axel spat the name like venom on his tongue, his voice low and menacing. Just...how could someone be so stupid? As much as he hated to admit it, Axel could confess that he had, in fact, done some pretty idotic things in his life. But what Ivor had done? That was beyond the idiocy limit. As Jesse had once said, he'd "revealed the mistakes of others at the cost of the world itself!"

Idiot.

And Soren! The disappointment strikes once again. He had left Axel, Olivia and Jesse alone with the monstrosity that his command block had created. The nerve of that man.

 _"Soren, you coward! I can't believe you!"_

Heh. Neither could Axel, Jesse.

And then there were the rest of the Order of the Dysfunctional Liars. The remaining Order members, as they soon found out, were just as brave and threatening as a pair of hopped-up ocelots. Which is, to say, not at all.

Well, in all honesty, Axel had to give Magnus some credit. He did give Jesse his armor, after all.

Which led to the fact that the only reason he gave it to her was because he lacked her courage to set off the Formidi-Bomb. Same could be said for Ellegaard, who was just equally as chicken as her teammates. Argh!

And as a result, Magnus lost his life.

Axel huffed an angry breath and inhaled deeply. He buried his face in his hands, massaging his temples with two fingers as he tried to calm his breathing and his frantic heartbeat.

How could he protect everyone and defend the town without the emotional support that his best friend, who had been sent to an early grave, offered? He wasn't the hero that he was cut out to be! Why was it the strongest that had to fall? It would've been so much easier if they just all died in the Witherstorm. He didn't deserve the glory, not when he could even save the one he loved. He didn't deserve the fame. He didn't deserve their admiration, their love, and most importantly, their trust.


	2. Chapter 2

People have different ways of handling pain. Some weep. Others scream. And some sweep it into the back of their minds and hope for the best, praying that it doesn't come back to haunt them.

It didn't seem to be the case for her.

Redstone was always something that never failed to intrigue Olivia. The bizarre reactions it had when comparators met dust, and the elaborate wiring of a sticky piston that would cause it to go haywire under the slightest electrical mishap. A Redstone prodigy, as people would call her, and that very title earned her Ellegaard's old role, the position of the New Order of the Stone's Redstone Engineer.

The New Order of the Stone. To be in such a position would be an honor to most. But to Olivia, it was just a stabbing reminder of the one she'd lost.

Everything these days seemed to remind her of Jesse. The fizzing and popping noises that the Redstone dust would give the moment a lever was flipped reminded her of the fits she would throw when she just couldn't master it. And Jesse would always be right next to her in an instant, telling her to "cheer up, you'll get it soon!" while Reuben ran around in circles around the treehouse, startled by either Olivia's frustrated yell, the Redstone contraption, or sometimes both.

Cheering up was something that Olivia wasn't very keen on doing. As simple as the action was, she found it challenging, and just couldn't bring herself to it. Her pessimistic attitude wasn't much of a help at all.

Having an optimist in the house, though, would occasionally lighten up the mood. Even on the darkest days, Jesse would always be right next to them in their treehouse, listing fun things they could do enthusiastically while ticking them off her fingers. Her musical laugh echoed in Olivia's mind, her smile, warmer than the summer sun, playing on repeat and the sight of her green eyes lighting up with excitement.

It wasn't until she finally passed away that Olivia realized how much she needed it.

The image troubled Olivia night and day. She sighed at the memory, her brown eyes glossy and unfocused, staring at her latest Redstone invention as she got lost in her own thoughts. A faint creaking noise, however, followed by some light footsteps, was enough to make her tilt her head up.

"Hello, Olivia."

Olivia hummed in response to the voice, tossing a small smile to its owner and giving off what she hoped was a none-too-subtle message that she wasn't in the mood for company. On any other day, however, she would have leapt in joy upon hearing it.

The voice didn't get the message. "Are you...okay? I just want to check up on you. I know that with...with Jesse gone, things are a little..." it trailed off for a moment, before deciding to divert what it assumed was a sensitive topic. "So...how are you holding up?"

Olivia internally scoffed and rolled her eyes. What kind of question was that? What was she supposed to say?

Choosing not to voice the interior conversation she'd just had with her conscience, she swallowed thickly, averting her gaze back onto the Redstone project that she'd been working on. The lump in her throat grew larger as the obvious was stated. Just hearing those words brought reality crashing back down on her again, a harsh reminder that this wasn't just a horrible nightmare. "Yeah...I'm okay," she lied.

"You don't seem okay."

"I'm fine, Ellegaard," Olivia hissed, gritting her teeth together by the end of the sentence. "Things have just been...you know..."

"Hard?" Ellegaard finished for her, "yeah, I...I know what you mean. I feel the same way. With Magnus being—uh, not alive...I don't know. I was kind of expecting him to be all, 'Aw, Ellie, you were worried about me? Couldn't use your big brain to think me back to life?'" she imitated. Ellegaard chuckled bitterly, attempting to lighten the mood by cracking a few jokes.

The fact that anger was currently bubbling inside of Olivia because of her antics remained unknown to Ellegaard. However, to Olivia, all Ellegaard's poor excuse of a 'joke' did was cast a dark shadow of regret in her mind. If Jesse was here, she would've excused herself mildly with a fake smile at the mention of Magnus' name, dismissing the tears of remorse that were building up behind her eyes before wearily treading away, guilt piled up on her shoulders.

This time, Olivia wasn't so successful in hiding her fury. She glared at Ellegaard from the corner of her eye for her ignorance. How could she be so oblivious?

If Ellegaard noticed the rapid change in Olivia's demeanour, she didn't show it. "So..." she scrambled with her words, "how's Axel doing? I-I mean, I know he's probably still shaken up, but—"

"I don't know," Olivia interrupted, her features softening as she recalled her last encounter with Axel. "Last I heard, he headed to the treehouse to gather all of our things."

"You're not going back there?"

Olivia shook her head, the last of the fury etched across her face melting from her countenance as she spoke in a weak tone. "Too many sad memories."

Well, at least that wasn't a lie. She doubted that Axel would be coming back anytime soon. He wasn't one to show weakness in front of others, and the sight of that treehouse was bound to trigger some unwanted memories. She had kindly refused to go with him for exactly that reason. Reuben, who now stuck by the memorial that the town had built for Jesse night and day, was enough of a reminder already.

Ellegaard looked at the ground after many failed attemptes of trying to catch Olivia's eye. "I...okay. That's understandable."

Silence. An uneasy silence. It wasn't comfortable, but neither had the courage to break it. The Redstone machine in front of Olivia had long ago run out of power, but she hardly noticed.

Finally, Ellegaard spoke up. "I'm going to get going, okay? Just...let me know if you need anything. I know how hard this is for you."

Olivia found it in her to nod slowly. "Okay. Thank you."

She heard Ellegaard turn around, and her footsteps dissipated as she moved further away from her. At last, some alone time. It was selfish of her, but she was starting to think that Ellegaard would never leave.

Olivia inhaled through her nose, exhaling through her mouth and running a hand through her black curls stressfully.

Olivia headed over to the balcony and swung the door open, immediately closing her eyes and relishing the gust of air that greeted her. When she opened them again, she was at one with the beautiful nighttime firmament. Lifting her gaze up to the sky, her breath caught in her throat at what she was met with.

A black curtain was splattered with flecks of stars, blending into the twilight that had settled just above the horizon and completing the midnight canvas. The cities were littered with several different colored lights as they prepared themselves for the darkness that covered the earth like a cloak. Crickets chirped in the distance, threatening to lull Olivia to sleep. A gentle, welcoming breeze, still warm from daytime's scorching sun, ruffled her black curls a second time.

Olivia smiled to herself. Aborting her work once in a while was worth the peacefulness and the tranquility that the area offered.

If only Jesse was there to enjoy it with her.


End file.
